Addressing mining impacts in Yellowknife

The Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program (NWT CIMP) has announced a $2.2 million investment into 30 environmental monitoring and research projects.

Faculty of Arts and Science Professor Heather Jamieson is a lead on one of these critical projects focusing on investigating the factors that control the mobilization and transportation of arsenic from contaminated soils to lakes in the Yellowknife region titled Recovery of the Mine-impacted Landscape in the Yellowknife Region. Her collaborators include Dr. Melissa Lafrenière, Department of Geography and Planning, Dr. Mike Palmer, Aurora Research Institute, Yellowknife, NWT, Sean McHale (PhD student) and Abigail Harrison (MSc student).

“Our previous research has shown that the arsenic trioxide that contaminated the Yellowknife region from legacy roaster emissions is still present in soils up to 30 kilometers from the former Giant Mine roaster,” says Dr. Jamieson (Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, School of Environmental Studies).

Giant Mine was a gold mine operating outside of Yellowknife from 1948 until 2004. When operations ceased, the Government of Canada became the site custodian. To release the gold found in minerals called arsenopyrite ore, Giant Mine and other legacy mining operations around Yellowknife had to roast the ore at high temperatures. This roasting process released arsenic rich gas, a highly toxic by product. In the early days, much of that arsenic was released directly into the environment. As a result, some sites in the Yellowknife area contain increased levels of arsenic.

The principal objectives of this new research include: 1) Assessing the speciation and solubility of arsenic in soils; 2) Measuring arsenic transport from different landcover types (e.g. bedrock outcrops, peatlands, and forested soils); and 3) Exploring how changing hydrological conditions associated with climate change will alter terrestrial arsenic mobility and transport in the region.

“Addressing these research objectives will provide important information on the long-term stability and fate of arsenic in soils in the region,” Dr. Jamieson explains. “This information will provide those impacted with information as to how long the landscape will take to recover from the impact of mining and processing gold ore.”

Along with Queen’s University, eight other postsecondary school received funding: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, McGill University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and York University.

To learn more about the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program, visit the website.